


Sojourn

by ScriveSpinster



Category: Fallen London | Echo Bazaar
Genre: Other, POV Second Person, Triple Drabble, hospitality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 23:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18980755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScriveSpinster/pseuds/ScriveSpinster
Summary: Hunter’s Keep is a haven for travelers. You are welcome here, and mostly safe.





	Sojourn

Cynthia leads you outside to the hollow, where the garden grows wild and the well sits, half-uncovered. Silver glints within, but your time in London taught you better than to go following strange lights down strange wells, and besides, you’re not alone.

Cynthia steps closer; her hands are cold, her hair tangled, and she lays you down on soft grass and whispers that this place is her place, that none will come looking. It could almost be a Surface night, redolent with earth and flowers, false stars shining above.

She tells you that all your journeys will end in disaster.

.

Lucy meets you in the room you’re given, slipping through the unlocked door with no lamp to light her way.

When the nightgown falls from her shoulders, she’s all soft shadow beneath, real blurring into dream. But she’s solid enough in bed beside you, warm where you touch her, and she lingers after, curled atop lilac-scented sheets.

 _You’re sweet,_ she says. _Not many are as sweet as you._

She runs a finger lightly down your chest and says something about keeping you forever, but she’s laughing as she says it, and in the morning, they send you on your way. 

.

Phoebe walks with you, arm in arm, to the shore where you’ll depart. 

She leaves you laden with gifts: fresh scones and poetry, flowers from the garden, little reminders of welcome. Behind you, up the long path, light shines in manor house windows; ahead of you, the dark.

 _Be careful,_ she says abruptly, and takes your hands, grips them hard. _The zee is dangerous, and hungry. Everything you meet at zee is dangerous and hungry._

And then she kisses you – salt on her lips, salt in the air, a feeling like something ending.

She warns you not to come back.


End file.
